HUGE improvement!
I'd been using a rickety old tripod my father bought at a yardsale for $5. It works, but the joints wobble (bad design even when new) and it could never quite match the camera lense to my height (6'2"), so I found myself sometimes propping it on small objects to give the same vantage point. I put a Manfrotto bottom plate on there and installed the top plate on every camera I own including the GoPro, so at least popping on a camera was easy. Because I grew to love the Manfrotto system so much, I looked into their tripods and got the tubular aluminum version. I really like it. Not such a fan of the "M" latch. I think the brass pin is easier than trying to lower a plastic tab with one hand, but it is doable with practice. The legs and joints are so much more sturdy than my old aluminum tripod, yet about the same weight. On weight- comparing aluminum vs. carbon fiber, I see very little reason not to go with the aluminum. It can raise the camera a whole length farther than my old one as well. I was a little annoyed by the beefy stiffness of the joints, but found this could be fine tuned by backing each of the three screws out about 1/2 turn from tight. By fullying removing only two of the three screws at a time and dabbing their tips in blue Loctite, I was able to get the threadlocking done on all three in an assembled state. I then toyed with exact leverage until the frictions were just right. I like the microphone stand style leg tightening as well, but find myself forgetting which way is which. Again, will just take practice. Read more
